Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ox gazed down at his son sleeping blissfully in his arms and still marveled at the fact he was a father. He should put Oscar in his crib, but he loved these quiet moments when he’d settled his son after he’d been fussing.
“You’re going to spoil him,” Eveline whispered as she came up behind him and smiled.
“He deserves it.”
“Wait until the next one comes along, and then you won’t be saying that. Oscar will be jealous.”
Ox tensed. What was his wife telling him? Quickly, he put Oscar into his crib and ushered Eveline out of their son’s room, closing the door with a soft click. “The next one? Are you trying to tell me something?”
Oscar wasn’t that old. Would it be safe for Eveline to fall pregnant so soon. Not that he’d mind, if she was. It would be interesting having two babies so close together, but he could handle anything—at least he thought he could.
Eveline laughed. “Stand down, Ox, I’m not pregnant.”
Ox slipped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck, desire burning through him. “I wouldn’t mind if you were.”
“Of course you wouldn’t, you don’t have to carry the baby around. You don’t have to go through the heartburn. The nausea. The pushing of a watermelon out.”
There was no heat in Eveline’s words, her eyes sparkled with mirth. “You know that if I could, I would.”
She cupped her cheek and he turned to kiss her palm. “I know you would. And I do want another baby, but let’s wait until Oscar is a bit older.”
“Whenever you’re ready. You’re in charge, not me.” Ox pulled her close and found her lips. She opened beneath him, and he deepened the kiss.
If he marveled over the fact that he had a son, he was even more astonished that he had this woman in his life. He’d almost blown it by walking away from her over an incident in his past that had colored the way he looked at life.
He’d been glad that Eveline had gotten under his skin and made him see what life could be like if he let go of old hurts. The fact he’d almost lost her too, was something he relived repeatedly, but he hadn’t told her that. He didn’t want to cause her stress over something he needed to deal with.
They pulled apart, and he led her to the couch, the Christmas tree twinkling brightly in the corner of the living room.
“We should start thinking about what we’re going to do for Christmas. Have you decided when to have the office Christmas party?” Eveline rested her hand on his chest, over his heart.
“We should, and not yet.”
She sat up abruptly. “You haven’t thought about an office Christmas party? Kyle, Christmas is like two weeks away. There’s no way you’re going to get anything booked now. Why didn’t you ask me to do it? I organized last year’s, I could’ve done this year’s. Even with having Oscar.”
“I know you could’ve, but I think there’s something in the works anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fox and the others, I think they’re organizing a Christmas party or something. They were being squirrelly a couple of weeks ago, but they’ve been acting normal since the confrontation in the office.”
He couldn’t be sure that Fox and his team were doing what he’d told Eveline, it was a hunch he had, and he’d learned during his career as a Delta, and after, to trust that hunch.
“A confrontation? You didn’t tell me that. What else haven’t you told me?”
Now Eveline looked pissed at him, and he couldn’t blame her. She worked in the office, and ever since they’d gotten together, there hadn’t been any secrets between them when it came to what went on in the office, and every other aspect of their lives.
“You were dealing with Oscar teething. You’d had about three sleepless nights in a row when it happened.”
“Still, I want to know these things. You know that.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry. I promise not to keep anything from you.”
“Thank you.” She settled back down against his chest. “You don’t actually know for sure if Fox is organizing a Christmas party, do you?”
“No.”
“Don’t you think you should have something as a backup in case they’re organizing something completely different? Like a surprise party for a relative.”
“If they were doing that, then they wouldn’t have stopped conversations when anyone else came near them. You know the guys don’t need a party, and if worse comes to worse, we can host them here. This place is plenty big enough.”
Eveline looked around their apartment living room dubiously. “It’s a bit of a tight squeeze for us three, but I supposed we could make it work. Or maybe I can speak to Astrid and see if she’s up to hosting something. You know she always is.”
“We rely too much on her because of her cooking skills. It wouldn’t be fair to always ask her to host.”
“There’s Cass and Irish; they’ll do it. Well, Irish will grumble about it, but then he’ll give in because Cass asks him to.”
Ox chuckled, the transformation from the grumpy, keep-to-himself person Irish had been, to the man he was now, was remarkable.
Then again, Irish had had a lot of reasons to be angry at the world.
“Maybe, but I think we should be the ones to host. I’ll speak to everyone tomorrow and we can go from there. ”
It would also be a good way to find out if Fox and his team were up to something or not.
Ox looked around the room at the gathered men, they were all relaxed, but he knew that they could spring into action at the slightest notice, if necessary.
“Thanks for meeting me. Eveline mentioned something last night that I admit, I hadn’t given much thought to—an office Christmas party. We don’t have one planned.”
The movement from Fox was minimal, a mere straightening of shoulders, but because he’d been prepared for it, Ox had seen it.
There was also a quick look passed between Deal and Hound.
The guys were definitely up to something.
“It’s all good,” Jag said. “We know you’ve been busy with Oscar and everything else.
It’s okay, maybe we can do something in the new year.
It’s going to be almost impossible to get a booking anywhere at such short notice.
We don’t need anything special. Unless you want to do something, then we’ll be okay with that. ”
Irish caught his attention and at his quirked eyebrow, Ox knew that he’d picked up on Jag’s word vomit. Something extremely unusual for a former SEAL. Or any former special forces operative. Information was given on a need-to-know basis, and what Jag just did wasn’t need to know.
“I appreciate you saying that Jag, but we’ll look at getting something arranged.
It’s a good time to get together as a team and celebrate the year.
” Ox was talking out of his ass, he didn’t normally make much of a fuss for Christmas, but if his assumptions were correct, and the guys had arranged something, they would protest a little more.
He hadn’t missed the look Fox sent Jag after his outburst.
“Whatever you need, Ox, let us know if we can help,” Fox said, attempting to look casual, but he was anything but.
“Will do. Julian will be here in a few minutes; he’s got a case he wants us to look into. There probably won’t be any action until the new year, but it’s good to be prepared.”
Again, Ox didn’t miss the look Fox, Jag, Hound, and Deal shared; it was almost one of relief that the subject had been changed
Definitely suspicious.